Latin American Update

Thanks to the Internet, I have been in communication with Liliana Arboleda, a Suzuki violin teacher from Cali, Colombia. She plays with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Cali, and attended Ithaca Suzuki Institute last summer. She plans to return this year to Ithaca to continue her teacher training courses. She has 25 Suzuki students in Cali.

Thanks to the joint efforts of the Suzuki Music Association of Southern California (Los Angeles Branch) and the Suzuki Association of Wisconsin, two Suzuki teachers from Santa Cruz, Bolivia will be attending the Chicago Conference. They are Rosario Anaya, piano teacher and Magali Pinto, violin teacher.

Barbara Barber has informed me that Eloisa Padilha, a graduate student from Curitiba, Brazil, is currently enrolled in the Master of Music in Performance and Suzuki Pedagogy program at Texas Christian University.

Tanya Carey reports the following: “I will return to Santiago, Chile in January 1999 for the festival there. During my last visit in January 1998 to Lima and Santiago I found the cellists at an even higher level of excellence than before. In Lima under the excellent tutelage of Annika Petrozzi, the President of the Suzuki Association of Peru, the cellists ranged from beginners through advanced students. It was wonderful to see Annika in action as a manager, teacher, performer, and mother (four of her children are cellists). Her whole family including grandchildren were visiting from abroad at the time! I admire her calm, practical inclusiveness. The excellence continued with Juan Goich’s group in Santiago. In talking to the teacher training class about the common problem of left hand tight thumbs, I remarked ‘It is extraordinary that not one cellist here shows that tendency.’ Juan replied, ‘You made a big point of that last time-we’ve been working on it!’ The teacher classes included some fine cellists from Argentina. I truly appreciate the fine dedicated work of the teachers in the classes and their students. Cello is alive and well in South America!”

The Suzuki Association of Peru reports that in addition to the annual October String Graduation Concert, the June and November Solo Concerts, and the Suzuki Festival in January, Suzuki students participated in a Telethon event soliciting donations for flood victims in the cities affected by El Nino.

For the next Journal which is dedicated to Dr. Suzuki, I would like to include reports from all Latin American Suzuki programs. Of special interest might be how your Association would like to pay tribute to the life of Shinichi Suzuki. Contact Caroline Fraser.

Thanks to the Internet, I have been in communication with Margarita Troetsch, a Suzuki piano teacher in Panama. She sent the following report:

There are presently about 60 Suzuki students and three Suzuki teachers working together in Panama: Carmen Linares (piano), Helena Kitras ( violin) and myself. I was a student in 1976 when the National School of Music tried to establish a Suzuki Program for strings. The attempt failed, but I began reading extensively about the Suzuki Method, and traveled to the United States to take teacher training courses. I studied with Sue Vasquez and returned to Panama to start my Suzuki program in1985. Carmen received her training from Mary Craig Powell. Helena teaches both privately and at the National School of Music. I would love to be in contact with other Latin American Suzuki programs so that we can support each other. I am bilingual (English-Spanish) and would be glad to help with translations. Contact: Margarita Troetsch.

Caroline Fraser is from Scotland. She graduated from Edinburgh University with a Bachelor of Music degree and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London obtaining the diplomas Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music and Associate of the Royal College of Music in piano and violin. She obtained a Masters of Music degree with Kodaly emphasis from Holy Names University (HNU). Caroline started to teach using the Suzuki method in 1974 in California. She pioneered the Suzuki method in Peru in 1981. From 1992 until 1999 she was a lecturer in music theory at HNU, where she continues to direct the Summer Suzuki Piano Teacher Training Institute. Caroline is an ESA, SAA and ARSO teacher trainer. She lives in Lima, Peru and is one of the Latin American liaisons for the SAA. She has given teacher training courses all over Latin America, in the USA, Canada, Europe and Taiwan.